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Strange pilgrimages in San Juan

By Robert BrodeySpecial to the Star

Fri., Jan. 29, 2010

Mendoza, Argentina–In search of some of the oldest bones in the world, I head north on highway 40, moving from Mendoza's famed vineyards into the parched deserts of San Juan province, the high mountains towering to the West.

Grapevines spring miraculously from the near-desert conditions. Families picnic along the shaded banks of giant canals that channel life-giving water from the mountains.

Argentinean tourists pose for a picture in front of `The Mushroom,’ a rock formation in Ischigualasto park. Paleontologists discovered a wealth of fossils from the Triassic period in the 600-square-
kilometre region. (ROBERT BRODEY PHOTOS)

With the last vineyards passing from sight in the rear-view mirror, I enter a driver's paradise with long stretches of open road that flow like a roller-coaster. The blazing wind from the open window blasts me with its scorched breath.

Somewhere in these dry desert hills, there's supposed to be a mysterious pilgrimage site, a place of miracles. I find no obvious signs of this religious shrine and continue on my solo journey.

As the final light falls behind a small cluster of hills, I arrive in San Agustín in the Fertile Valley, an ideal springboard to visit the dinosaur park of Ischigualasto.

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Here, old Renaults and Ford Falcons from the 1970s abound, kids double each other around on bicycles, and in the central plaza people sip wine and beer from cups and enjoy the summer night.

I rise at 6:30 a.m. to get a head start on the sun, driving the 80 kilometres to the Ischigualasto park entrance, the cool air as fragrant as any perfume. This 600-square-kilometre pre-Jurassic park, with its magnificent desert-scapes, betrays none of its importance as a depository of some of the oldest evidence of terrestrial life some 230 million years ago.

Many of these discoveries were made thanks to Dr. Alfred Romer, who set out to explore western Argentina in 1958.

"Every paleontologist dreams of finding a virgin territory strewn with fossil skulls and skeletons," wrote the Harvard professor in a research paper. "Almost never does this dream come true. To our amazement and delight, it did come true ... in Ischigualasto."

In the parking lot, cars queue up and are led into the park for a 40-kilometre tour by our guide, Ricardo, who takes us to the layer-cake rock formation, "El Gusano," The Worm.

Ricardo, who has been leading groups for 15 years, best describes the region as "Muy muy lunar."

In this "very very lunar" dust bowl, occupied by cacti and other hardy species, it's difficult to imagine that life once flourished here.

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But many ages ago, rains fell and rivers flowed, providing for an abundance of life, including gigantic ferns and conifers. Reptiles, like the stocky-beaked Rhynchosaurs, fed on the plants, while the bipedal saurischian dinosaurs apparently liked to nosh on vegetarians.

Discovered in rock and clay deposits, the surviving fossils serve as organic snapshots of nearly the entire Triassic period (251 to 199 million years ago), offering clues to the missing link between the egg-laying dinosaurs and ancient mammals.

As the morning sun rises, long shadows retreat while rock formations change colour from reds to yellows and soon to bone white. We follow dusty roads, sending up trails behind our vehicles like smokescreens.

We visit other rock formations with names such as, "The Mushroom" and "The Submarine." These natural sculptures are a result of softer rock eroding at a different rate than, say, harder rock. What is left is a landscape of true artistic beauty.

"This is totally unique," says one awed visitor.

Founded in 1971, Ischigualasto hosts tens of thousands of tourists every year, the vast majority of them from Argentina.

"We are trying to find a balance between preservation and tourism," says Ricardo. The park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.

The 500-kilometre drive back to Mendoza feels like a different route altogether, with expansive views at every turn.

Just outside the village of Vallecito, I ask a local about the pilgrimage site.

He fixes a chilling gaze on me and says gravely, "This is a very important religious place." I nod with what I hope is enough solemnity, and he points me toward town.

Once in the vicinity, the shrine is difficult to miss. Tour buses line the streets, with souvenir shops littering the dusty streets.

According to legend, María Antonia Deolina Correa crossed the desert in the mid-19th century, following her husband, a conscript in the Civil War.

She died of thirst in what is now Vallecito, where locals found her body with a baby still alive and suckling her breast.

The shrine is a rather bizarre blend of the sacred and profane, with wooden doll houses of all shapes and sizes dotting the hillside. Licence plates and plastic soda bottles filled with water are scattered and hung everywhere as offerings to Difunta Correa (which literally means deceased Correa).

Revered as a saint and a miracle-maker in Argentina, Correa's shrine has become one of the country's most important pilgrimage sites.

I visit a hilltop room housing two sculptures of Correa with a baby on her chest. All around, pilgrims have tacked up hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs of family members and even cars.

With the sun at its zenith, I head back toward my rented vehicle, seeking shade in this surreal and unforgiving landscape.

Perhaps it's the heat, but I feel as if my feet are no longer touching the ground, and I'm walking on the moon.

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